Australia’s new Air Force Chief has announced that Australia will continue surveillance missions in the South China Sea despite Beijing’s recent dangerous interception of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft.
This is the first time Air Marshal Robert Chipman, the head of the RAAF, spoke to the media since taking up his post last month.
“Recent encounters with the Chinese have been robust, to say the least,” he said.
“Certainly, we have seen a recent spate of unsafe incidences, but it’s not a trend line that we can see sustained.”
Australia’s Defence Department revealed in June that a J-16 Chinese military jet conducted a “dangerous” interception of an Australian aircraft in international airspace over the South China Sea, sparking a diplomatic protest….